Have you recently moved to San Francisco? Maybe you're considering a move, or just a visit, and you want to know the best things about living in the City by the Bay?
San Francisco has some of America's most famous landmarks, but that's not all there is to see. People living in San Francisco hail it as one of the best cities in the world — and for good reason!
If you want to find out more about what makes living in San Francisco so great, read on to learn 5 things that residents are thankful for.
When you think of San Francisco, you probably think of the Golden Gate Bridge. This feat of architecture, constructed in the early 1930s, is the most photographed bridge in the world.
But there are other famous landmarks in San Francisco. Alcatraz Island is just 1.25 miles off the shore of the city. The prison on the island was made famous by Clint Eastwood in Escape From Alcatraz, as well as a host of other blockbuster movies.
You can now go on tours around the prison or even compete in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon!
Another famous attraction is Lombard Street, also known as the "Crookedest Street in the World" — every year, millions of visitors drive or walk down the street made famous by The Italian Job.
The list goes on: The Presidio, Golden Gate Park, the Painted Ladies, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Palace of FIne Arts and more. There’s always something to see or do here in SF!
Thanks to yet another tech boom in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, the Bay Area has become the definitive global center for technology. The economy of San Francisco is one of the most robust in the USA.
There are job opportunities aplenty, with the right skill set. While San Francisco is home to many artists, lawyers, chefs, teachers, and everything a big city entails, a majority of new arrivals to the city are focused on the tech industry. Bring your computer science degree, and you could find yourself working for some of the most well-known companies in the world: Google, Facebook, Apple, and Tesla are all based in the Bay Area!
If you don’t own a car, or if you are one of the many who would gladly trade their personal vehicle for better public transportation, San Francisco is the place for you.
There are cabs, buses, trains, and cable cars which can get you almost anywhere in the city. If you're into heritage, you can even use the F-Line Streetcar, which still operates in the city.
Most famous and beloved is the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, or “BART” as it’s better known, which moves thousands of San Franciscans every day along its heavy rail and subway lines.
The City of San Francisco is full of history and stunning architecture, being one of the first centers of migration for westbound settlers after the days of the Oregon Trail (no, not the computer game). Beginning in 1849, the California Gold Rush ushered a large populace and hordes of wealth into the region, and these newly wealthy residents built beautiful homes.
San Francisco architecture showcases a broad range of popular styles from the mid-19th century and on, from Gothic Revivals built in the 1840s to Arts and Crafts homes built near the turn of the century. However, the city is best known for its stunning Victorian and Edwardian homes. The aforementioned Painted Ladies of Steiner Street (across from Alamo Square Park) are a prime example.
With just over 800,000 residents, San Francisco is a relatively small “big city.” But all those people are packed into quite a small geographical footprint. San Francisco has the second highest population density of any major city in the country, after New York City. This means that real estate comes at a premium — make sure you’ve run the numbers before you up and move!
Thanks to its diverse and exotic culture for the time, San Francisco earned the nickname "Baghdad by the Bay" in the 1940s. The city remains an example of cultural and social openness, a history that dates back all the way to the diverse mix of arrivals during the Gold Rush, and later its status as a military port.
It’s widely known that everyone is welcome in San Francisco, regardless of color, race, or creed. The city has a great reputation for inclusion and acceptance, and this is reflected in the truly diverse culture within. That said, there is economic turbulence due to the eruption of wealth in the tech sector — another example of the importance of doing the math before you decide to move here on a whim.
If you are considering a move to San Francisco, or moving within the city to a newer, bigger, or better suited home for your needs, we recommend that you start the conversation with an expert Bay Area Realtor® today to talk through the many amazing real estate opportunities in this fabulous city.
With so much to offer in culture, history, scenery, events and employment, it's not hard to see why San Francisco has long attracted droves of eager visitors and residents.
If you want to know more about living in San Francisco, feel free to get in touch, or check out more articles on the blog!
